Aus Furniture City is located at the outer loop of Jiang City, usually with few visitors, and the absence of other survivors hanging around the furniture city provided Lin Xian with the perfect opportunity to indulge himself.
Lin Xian glanced at the time, 16:30, with over two hours left until dark.
Without hesitation, he first chose a set of costly yet unostentatious sectional leather sofas, transported them to the truck with a forklift, and then found a foldable steel-frame bed.
Although the door of Compartment 3 was relatively large, it was not practical to stuff a wooden bed in, so Lin Xian planned to weld the steel-frame bed inside the compartment, and it would be perfectly comfortable with a foldable mattress and a latex pad.
Right, can't forget pillows and blankets.
The more Lin Xian moved things, the happier he became, until he saw a 60-inch screen TV hanging on the wall in a brand shop that immediately caught his eye.
"Hmm, having an Entertainment Area to play games and watch movies in my free time wouldn't be bad."
Without a second thought, Lin Xian dismantled anything he could; soon, he had packed the flatbed truck full to the brim.
If it weren't for the limited space in the washroom of Compartment 1, he would even want to take a whole set of bathtubs and toilets from the bathroom section.
On the small truck, Lin Xian's eyes shimmered, Mechanical Heart activated, the engine roared back to life, and he drove the fully loaded vehicle around the parking lot, crashing through the rail fence of the railroad track and tumbling onto the rubble-covered slope.
Chen Sixuan, who had been waiting on the train for over an hour, was shocked to see Lin Xian arrive in a truck.
Upon a closer look, she was even more bewildered to see the truck loaded with sofas, mattresses, and even a television.
Was this considered supplies?
Under the apocalypse, wasn't the most crucial thing to search for water or food, or perhaps weapons? Chen Sixuan's thoughts were in disarray, but she saw Lin Xian drive the truck to the back of Compartment 3 and hurried over to help.
The lift gate of Compartment 3 gradually lowered, and Lin Xian boarded with the Short Knife on his back. They moved aside the motorcycles and cranes inside, then the two of them started to transfer the sofa, bed frame, mattress, pillows, blankets, carpet, and television all into Compartment 1.
By the time everything was finished, the sun was setting.
Both were drenched in sweat from the effort.
Beep beep, beep beep~
The alarm on the watch began to ring, Lin Xian's expression turned serious, and he said to Chen Sixuan
"You go over there, have something to eat and get organized, I need to deal with this truck."
At this moment, he had a bold idea; since the truck was right there in front of him, why not seize the opportunity to Devour it?
Even if there was danger, he could raise the protective tailgate of the compartment immediately.
It sounded risky, indeed, as the dangers of the night were far beyond ordinary Zombies, but Lin Xian didn't want to waste this rare opportunity to upgrade, so he decided to take the gamble.
At this moment, Chen Sixuan was like a well-behaved and docile wife, immediately following what Lin Xian had told her.
After Chen Sixuan left Compartment 3, Lin Xian removed the custom-made metallic car hook from the vehicle's door and strapped it around his waist, took advantage of the approaching nightfall, descended from the train, placed his hand on the small truck, and without any hesitation, activated the ability of Mechanical Devouring.
The familiar sensation of devouring a car returned, and Lin Xian felt the energy inside his body rapidly depleting, while the devour progress on the screen in front of him advanced far more slowly compared to the small household appliances he devoured before.
He had one hand pressed against the van, and the other tightly clutching the metallic car hook.
The reason Lin Xian tethered the car with a steel cable to the hook was mainly to maintain control over the "Infinity" at any time; his superpower could only manipulate machinery he was touching, and a connection metallic wire would become ineffective if the distance was a bit too far.
Time ticked by second by second; the surroundings were eerily quiet, and due to the lack of any light source, as the sunset was falling, his field of vision began to darken, and Lin Xian's expression grew increasingly grave.
It seemed to him, almost in a trance, that even the earth was breathing...
Is this the Dark Tide?
The sky suddenly darkened, a darkness so abrupt and eerie, as if without any transition.
For over two months, survivors seemed to have grown accustomed to this change.
One could only pray for the night to pass quickly; it was only in daylight that some survivors dared to emerge from their shelters, searching for resources vital to their survival.
But actually, everyone was clear that following the extended night, food and water would eventually run out, and whether dawn would ever come again, nobody knew.
Hiding in shelters is nothing but a slow death, but migrating and fleeing is a gamble; steel-reinforced concrete doors may not even be enough to block those oddities in the night, and if one were to go out into the wilderness, to take shelter in vehicles, how many chances of survival would there be?
No matter which option, there's no absolute safety.
Therefore, superpower users became the leaders of the surviving groups; they possess abilities beyond those of ordinary people, offering a sense of security that exceeds steel and concrete.
Before the networks completely collapsed prior to the extended night, Lin Xian had already seen many superpower users with strange abilities on the internet; they quickly became hot topics online, emerging as leaders that people eagerly followed in the apocalypse and simultaneously became the focus of official research and collaboration.
When Lin Xian initially posted his recruitment plan for the Infinity Train on forums, he also thought about divulging his own superpower, thus seeking a large following.
However, he soon abandoned the idea.
He felt that he wasn't capable of managing hundreds or thousands of survivors in the apocalyptic environment, because although his superpower was miraculous, it was somewhat difficult to even protect himself; if he were to become a leader, the most value he could offer would be to operate the train and repair machinery, lest he ended up becoming an actual battery to others instead of a leader, suffering undue hardship...
As it turned out, his concerns were completely justified. Merely two months into the apocalypse, brutal crimes over resources, with thugs killing one another, had become commonplace, and those superpower users' might was incomprehensibly strong. In comparison, Lin Xian's ability appeared quite ordinary in its early stages.
[Devour Progress 63%]
One hour into the night, the devour progress had finally reached more than half. Lin Xian maintained his absolute focus, ever vigilant of the pitch-black surroundings.
He turned off all the lights on the train, his entire being seemingly fused with the darkness, even his breathing slowed down, as he just laid his hand on the van, quietly devouring.
To avoid exposing the faint mystic light in his eyes, Lin Xian even closed them, attentively using his ears to stay alert to the surroundings, the railway was flanked by wire fences, if there was any movement he should be able to hear it, and if there was something approaching on the tracks, it should make a noise as well.
[Devour Progress 77%]
Almost there, almost succeeded...
At that moment, a faint sound of breaking pebbles suddenly arose.